Gladiator
by biiiiiiiiiiiiirdman
Summary: In the fierce maelstrom of destiny, Yusuke Urameshi finds himself standing upon the sand of the Roman coliseum in a fight for his life. Some legends are written in blood. YusukeKeiko, HieiBotan, KuramaShizuru
1. I: Deserter

**A/N:** I'm back from the dead. Who knows how long it'll last, though, like always. Came up with this idea a while ago and I figured I'd give it a go. Hope you enjoy.

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of it's characters. I also don't own the movie Gladiator, or anything at all related to it. And I don't own any of the songs that I link to in this either. I don't own anything. I'm a broke ass college student who's sitting in his apartment writing fanfiction, do you think I have legal claim to ANYTHING? XD

**Gladiator**

Prologue

_At the height of its power the Roman Empire was vast, stretching from the deserts of Africa to the borders of Northern England. Over one quarter of the world's population lived and died under the rule of the Caesars._

_In the summer of 180 A.D., one man finds himself caught up in the torrent of indomitable destiny. Gagged and bound, he finds himself adrift within a sea of blackness, the firm grip of calloused hands upon his arms and shoulders and the cold touch of stone beneath his feet. His mind is elsewhere, far to the North to fields of green that wave to and fro in a gentle breeze. The sky is blue there, illuminated by the radiant and beautiful light of the sun overhead. The birds sing and the warm air kisses his face as he looks down at the crimson stained corpse before him, his hands dripping red._

**Chapter I.**

Deserter

"Wake up."

The command was rough, resembling the bark of a dog more than the voice of a man. Was it a man? He struggled against the heavy weight of his eyelids; summoning what strength he could muster in an attempt to lift them. Unfortunately, his progress was slow.

"I said wake up."

A sudden jolt of pain to the side of his face helped to bring him back to the present, his chocolate eyes finally managing to peek out at the world around them through his lashes. He forced himself to blink quickly, his senses slowly returning to him as he gazed up at his captor.

Indeed, it was not a man at all. But rather an aged looking woman, her locks grey and her face lined with wrinkles, with said wrinkles lined with scars. Her eyes bore a seasoned look to them, the glow of experience residing within her gaze.

"He breathes." One of the men that held him down snorted in laughter, only to be cut off by a sharp glare from the old woman.

"Shut up." She commanded harshly before looking back to her newly arrived student, "I am Genkai, but you will call me Doctore. I am charged with keeping you alive long enough to make your death profitable for the master."

"… master?" the bound man asked, glancing to his left and right at the armed soldiers which held him firmly in place. They were Roman Legionaries, he judged from their armor with a visible frown. He had once been among their ranks.

"Yes, _master_." Genkai repeated herself with an impatient nod, her arms folding themselves tightly over her chest, "Lord Koenma. He is the one who owns this Ludas."

"Ludas? The Hell's that?"

"Watch your mouth!" roared one of the guards from beside the bound man, striking their prisoner over the back of his head with impressive force. His head bobbed forward as a result, his brows furrowed and his jaw clenched.

"Enough." Genkai instructed the soldiers with another glare, her hands balled tightly into fists, "I don't care whether or not he was a deserter, he belongs to Koenma now."

The soldiers did not answer the doctore, but the look in their eyes suggested that they certainly wanted to.

"The Ludas. It is where I turn the scum of the Earth that I am brought into passable Gladiators, and it is your new home." Genkai spoke, regarding the man knelt before her critically. He looked up from the stone floor that he had been forced down upon, his body covered in filth and blood as a result of both his capture as well as being dragged upon the dirty stone of the Ludas' halls.

"Gladiator?"

"Yes, gladiator. You do know what that is, don't you?" the old woman questioned, a brow inclined upward as she looked at the man skeptically.

"Yeah, but I ain't one of them." He answered from the ground.

"You mean you _weren't_. The man who was to be your master sold you to us instead of taking you as his servant. Most people aren't too fond of a piece of deserter trash. Their records of insubordination precede them."

"Just passin' around people's lives like chump change, huh?" the man smirked, his gaze rising to look up at the shadow covered ceiling above, the cell that he had been confined to not offering much in terms of illumination, "Definitely sounds Roman to me."

"Why you son of a-"

"If you can't hold onto your God damned tongue then I'll cut it out, you understand me?" Genkai interrupted the guard before he could speak another word, the threatening look that played within her gaze enough to turn a man's blood into ice. The soldier stiffened, his brow twitching as he fixed his gaze straight ahead of himself as not to meet the doctore's.

"Name." she demanded suddenly, looking back down at her new arrival. He was a pathetic sight, his body clad only in a filthy rag that covered his privates from being seen by all who were present. Obsidian bangs hung down over his forehead messily, streaks of grime and blood acting as if it were a make-shift hair gel that kept the majority of his tendrils slicked back.

"Yusuke." The young man answered, straightening his back as he met the doctore's eyes with his own.

"Do yourself a favor and forget it, kid. You'll get your name back when you're worth something, and as of right now I couldn't trade you for horse shit." Genkai stated coolly, her expression an impenetrable mask of stone that conveyed nothing but severity.

"What was that?" Yusuke growled, about to rise up onto his feet before the guards at his side grabbed him firmly and forced him back down onto his knee.

"You're a deserter _and_ you're def?" Genkai snorted before turning about on her heel and making her way over to the cell door, "Maybe I should just kill you now and get it done with."

"Bring it on, hag!" Yusuke shouted after her as she retreated down the hall, her form becoming little more than a dark silhouette from the light of the torches upon the walls. He scowled at her shrinking back, his arms unconsciously pulling at the chains that bound his wrists together behind him.

"Well, friend. Looks like it's just us and you." The guard to his left sneered, stepping in front of the new gladiator and looking down at him as he would at an insect, "But don't you worry, we'll take good care of you."

"Hate to burst your bubbles, buddy, but I'm straight as an arrow." Yusuke smirked up at the soldier defiantly before nodding in the direction of the legionnaire that was still holding him down by the shoulder, "But your buddy here seems to be having a good time rubbing his hands all over me, maybe you could get him to suck your-"

Yusuke found himself cut off by a fist colliding firmly with his jawbone, the blow sending his head reeling sideways as saliva flew forth in a wave from his mouth and splashed against the back wall of his cell. He barely had time to register what had happened before an additional punch was dealt to his exposed stomach, the taste of blood now present upon his tongue as he lurched forward in reaction to the hit, crimson dripping from his lower lip as his captor struck him across the face yet again.

And again.

And again.

"Worthless sack of shit," the guard seethed, towering over Yusuke's now fallen body. The slave was laid out upon his side, right shoulder facing upright at his assailant and allowing the dim torchlight of the Ludas to shine upon the flesh there, the mark of the legion sewn intricately into his skin, "You don't get to keep this. A miserable cur like you has no right!"

The soldier suddenly brandished a small dagger from within his boot, raising the weapon up to his face as to flick his tongue against the tip of the blade.

"Guess we'll just have to remedy that right now!"

"That's enough!"

The guard stopped dead in his predatory advance towards Yusuke, his eyes closing tightly together as he uttered a silent curse beneath his breath. Behind him, her very presence in complete contrast to the darkness of the Ludas, stood a woman whose beauty forced Yusuke to look twice. She was clad in a fine white cloth that was draped over her slender left shoulder before it dropped down to hang down about her feet, her slim figure complimented dramatically by the garb as it hugged her every curve. Upon her head she wore a jeweled tiara that was nestled atop her flowing locks of sky blue hair. Her tendrils were tied back into a high ponytail at the back of her head, the hair there bobbing slightly as she approached the guard that had beaten Yusuke and slapped him firmly across the face.

"What is the matter with you? You should be ashamed! He can't even resist!" the noblewoman scolded the soldiers, casting them each a venomous glare before looking to their victim. She knelt at his side before reaching out and touching him gingerly, gently helping him sit up where he sat upon the floor before looking back at the guards expectantly.

"Well? Give me the keys." She instructed, receiving only dumbfounded looks in response.

"My Lady, you can't be serious."

"I am. Give me the keys." She repeated herself, her hand held outstretched with the palm facing up. The soldier's rage was evident, his form trembling in fury as he reached for the key ring that hung from his belt and removed it, placing it within the noblewoman's awaiting grasp. She snatched it from him as soon as the cold metal made contact with her fingers, leaning backward where she sat as to get behind Yusuke before inserting the key into the shackles.

"Thanks for the save. I had it handled, though." Yusuke offered a bloody smile as his hands were finally set free. He sighed in relief as he brought them out before his face, turning them over several times and enjoying the feeling of only his skin rather than the iron that he had been clamped down upon it.

"Well, you had me fooled." The woman smiled back before her expression gradually faded into a sympathetic frown. Yusuke's right eye was now significantly swollen and his cheek bore a dark bruise. She reached out towards it gingerly before pulling back just before making contact, not wanting to hurt him.

"It's fine. All good." Yusuke assured her while raising a hand of his own to his face, wiping with its backside along his bottom lip as to remove the trail of blood that had stained his mouth and chin, "Eh, maybe not."

"Lady Botan?" a woman's voice suddenly sounded from down the hall, accompanied by the sound of fast footsteps upon the cold stone floor, "Are you alright?"

A young woman with hair the color of hazel stepped through the entrance to the cell, her eyes overcome with worry upon seeing her mistress knelt beside such a bloodied man. One of the guards moved to grab her roughly, but he shrank back once her mistress turned on him as though she were a serpent.

"She's with me, back off." The noblewoman instructed, gesturing with a hand for the girl to enter before looking back to Yusuke, "Keiko, do you have a spare cloth on you?"

"Y-Yes, my Lady." The servant girl answered quickly, fumbling about for a moment before managing to produce a small, brown rag from within her modest outfit, "Should I tend to his wounds?"

"Yes, please." Botan nodded with a gentle smile before looking back to Yusuke, "I apologize for the way that you have been treated. This is… inhumane."

"When has that ever stopped anybody? Don't sweat it." He laughed before looking to the servant girl, smiling as she gently ran the cloth along the side of his face, "Yow! Easy."

"I'm sorry!" Keiko apologized, earning another laugh from the bloodied young man. She tried to fight off the blush that threatened to overwhelm her face without much success.

"I'll let ya off the hook if I can get your name. Sound fair?" Yusuke asked, raising a brow. The servant girl nodded politely as she reached out with the cloth once again, this time even more careful than before.

"I suppose. My name is Keiko, I am Lady Botan's hand servant." Keiko bowed her head politely, which earned her only a disapproving sound from her mistress.

"She seems to forget that she's my friend first." The blue haired damsel noted, earning an additional blush and smile from the servant girl as she continued to tend to Yusuke's injuries.

"What about you?" Keiko asked curiously, now focusing on the young gladiator's ear, "What's your name?"

"I'm Yusuke." He introduced himself, catching the gaze of the woman who tended to him before she quickly looked away, apparently embarrassed. He felt the corners of his mouth slowly beginning to turn upward when an additional voice interrupted things, yet again.

"Botan? What is going on here?" questioned a man of average height. However, that was without a doubt the only average thing that there was about him. He was clad in clothing made of the finest silk and cloth, richly adorned with intricate embroidery and designs that rendered him a walking mesh of red and gold. He stood surrounded by a troop of soldiers, each armed to the teeth and towering in stature, resembling large and brutish ogres escorting their master.

"Brother!" Botan looked up at the man before rising to her feet, Keiko doing the same but bowing respectfully after doing so.

"Just what were you doing before I arrived?" the man questioned, his narrow eyes studying his blue haired sibling intently as she struck something of a defensive pose.

"Oh, yes! These _men_," Botan paused to point at the two guards that remained within Yusuke's cell, glancing at them scathingly from the corner of her eyes before looking back to her elder brother, "were needlessly assaulting this defenseless man!"

"And?" the man asked, awaiting further explanation.

"And… well, that's it." Botan trailed off, touching the ends of her index fingers together nervously. Her brother sighed as he raised a hand up to his temples, his fingers rubbing at them gingerly.

"Botan, we have discussed this." He put as sweetly as he could manage in his current state of aggravation, "One, I do not want you in the Ludas. I do not know what it is down here that fascinates you so, but I have told you time and time again that you are not to be here. And two, they are slaves." He explained, raising a finger to silence his sister as she began to protest, "They are property, not people. They need only food and water, not your love, sister."

"Koenma, I-"

"Botan. Enough. I will not see you down here again, am I understood?" he questioned, looking his sister in the eye as to make his point.

"Yes, Koenma." She nodded before looking back to Yusuke, a defeated and apologetic expression all that she could offer before leaving the same way that she had come, Keiko following suit after offering Yusuke a sympathetic smile as well.

"See you." She managed before shrinking away down the hall with her mistress. An uncomfortable silence hung upon the air after the women had departed, Yusuke still seated upon the floor of his cell as Koenma, the master of the Ludas, looked down at him. They held one another's gazes for what seemed like hours before the nobleman looked to the soldiers that still stood in Yusuke's cell.

The gladiator smirked and closed his eyes, already well aware of what was coming.

"He is the new one?"

"Yes, Sir."

"He was a deserter?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Carry on."

---------------

**A/N:** Buhh. That was one long ass scene. It'll get more interesting and fun next chapter. That's where we'll meet up with Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei, as well as the other gladiators.

Til then, REVIEW!


	2. II: Of Wolves and Sheep

**A/N**: Thanks for the reviews! Much appreciated.

**Disclaimer**: I still don't own anything.

**Chapter II.**

Of Wolves and Sheep

Yusuke looked down in disgust at the contents of the bowl that was set before him upon the crude wooden table, a gut wrenching and vile concoction that smelled of human waste staring right back up at him as if challenging the gladiator to try and eat it. He could feel his stomach twisting itself into tight knots, pleading with him not to condemn it to such a sickening platter. Yusuke winced as he cautiously took his spoon in hand and lightly jabbed at the mound of bile, recoiling quickly when it quivered in response to his prodding.

"It would be unwise to allow your meal to go to waste." A smooth voice advised from behind Yusuke, prompting the seated gladiator to turn and look at the man who spoke to him. There stood a man who looked not too much older than Yusuke, his long mane a fiery red and his eyes a piercing emerald. He was handsome and, for a gladiator, was surprisingly well groomed to the point that his features appeared almost delicate. His upper body was clad, like the other gladiators, in simple rag in which large holes were cut for the head, arms, and waist. His leggings were sewn of an ancient looking cloth, also from the supply stockpiles of the Ludas, and were torn and dirtied irrevocably. Yusuke had earlier noted to himself that, aside from the robes of the nobles that occasionally graced the slaves with their presence, there was nothing clean or beautiful in this cesspool. This man's garb only supported his theory.

"You want it? I've learned from experience that shit's better coming out than going back in." Yusuke joked dryly, earning a chuckle from the red head.

"Indeed? I have heard this rumor as well. But still, we must eat when we are afforded the time. Who knows when the next opportunity to do so will present itself." The man answered before pulling out the stool beside Yusuke and lowering himself to sit upon it, "May I join you?"

"Not sure why you'd want to, but sure." Yusuke answered as he nodded, his gaze having returned to the abomination within his bowl as an expression of focus began to play across his features. Stomaching this would take some willpower.

"Oh?" the red head replied while raising a brow inquisitively, "What makes you say that?"

"I'm a deserter." Yusuke answered without looking away from the _food_ that still sat taunting him, "If you were askin' yourself why my face's all pulp, there's your answer."

The handsome man chuckled once again as he watched Yusuke force down a spoonful of the wretched mound, a comical grimace suddenly overwhelming his face.

"And this should bother me?"

"Seems to bug everyone else."

"Ah." The red head nodded in thought before smiling once again, his hand suddenly extended, "Well, it is my pleasure to inform you that I am not everyone else. I am Kurama."

"So they let you keep your name, huh?" Yusuke asked, glancing sideways as he forced another wad of bile into his mouth, "You must be a pretty solid fighter, I take it."

"No, actually." Kurama shook his head, "I was a scribe, professionally. Though I fancied myself a botanist. I've always had something of a green thumb, I suppose. Within the garden of my home in Greece I took great pride in the vast array of flowers that I was able to cultivate."

Yusuke continued to chew.

"However, I am afraid that both my profession and my passion were taken from me upon being taken into the host of the Roman Legionaries. But my name," the redhead paused, his lips now curved into a gentle and almost sagely smile, "is something that they will never strip of me."

Yusuke swallowed the gut wrenching wad that rested upon his tongue, conjuring up what strength he had in an effort not to vomit it back up.

"Yusuke Urameshi." He introduced himself, taking Kurama's hand in his own and grasping it firmly.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Kurama answered politely as he returned the clasp before looking off to their right, "Ah, here comes a friend of mine that you should meet."

Not far from them approached a man of large stature and strong build, his shoulders broad and his arms thick. He stood at an impressive height, able to look down upon the majority of the men that he passed. His hair gave away where he was from instantly, its orange hue a color that was possessed solely by those bearing the blood of the North. His apparel was the same as Yusuke and Kurama's, though it seemed somewhat tight on him due to his impressive yet lean muscles.

He came to a halt upon reaching their table, his expression hard and stern as he looked down at the two seated men.

"Yusuke Urameshi," Kurama began, looking to the gladiator seated beside him before shifting his gaze to the one that stood on his other side, "meet Kazuma Kuwabara."

"What's up?" Yusuke nodded to the large fighter with a smirk. Kuwabara stared back at him blankly for a moment before glancing at Kurama in question, only to receive a quick nod.

The man underwent a complete one-eighty as he slammed his bowl down upon the table enthusiastically, his face now contorted into a wide grin that could have been called goofy.

"Nothin', man. Nice to meet ya." Kuwabara answered as he took a seat, his voice rough but playful in sound before he began to shovel back the contents of his bowl, earning a wary look from Yusuke and a soft chuckle from Kurama.

"Ignore his table manners, he's a Germanian." The redhead joked, earning a messy snort and glare from the carrot top as he continued to suck up the goop before him as though he were a vacuum. Chunks and specks dotted his lips as several morsels dripped down his powerful chin, dripping onto the table in pools of muck.

"That'd explain it." Yusuke blinked before grinning and pointing at Kuwabara with his spoon, "Easy there, buddy. You're gonna drown in that shit if ya don't pace yourself."

"Heh, right. This is nothing! If I could get more than one stinkin' bowl outta these cheap bastards I could eat the place empty." The orange haired brute boasted with a full mouth, flexing an arm for emphasis, "Ya gotta eat if you want muscles this big!"

"Or a face that ugly." Yusuke quipped.

"HEY!" Kuwabara exclaimed, earning nothing but snickers, "Better hope I don't get you in rounds, Urameshi."

"Rounds?" the newest gladiator of the three asked, looking to Kurama.

"Rounds is the designated time in which we train and spar under the supervision of Doctore Genkai, whom I would assume you have already become acquainted with?" the red head questioned, continuing when Yusuke nodded, "The timing of your arrival is remarkably convenient. Today I believe we are being split into wolves and sheep."

"Ya lost me." Yusuke scratched at the side of his head, brows knitted together in confusion. Kuwabara belched, running the backside of a calloused hand over his mouth.

"Wolves and sheep are the two groups for gladiators like us. Ya got your wolves who are your fighters and the ones that get famous with the crowd for rackin' up kills, and then there's the sheep." The Germanian explained while continuing to wipe off his slathered chin, "They're the unlucky bastards that get fed to the wolves to make a good show."

"Free kills, huh?" Yusuke murmured, earning a deep frown and nod from Kuwabara.

"Correct, Yusuke." Kurama answered solemnly before forcing a smile, "But your combat experience will not doubt avail you in the trials, I am sure. Unfortunately, how they intend to rank us is still a mystery to me."

"I figure they'll just have us duke it out. Whoever's left alive at the end get to be the wolves." Kuwabara thought aloud, earning a smirk from Yusuke.

"Ya? Well then what good'll the sheep be if they're all already dead?"

"Oh. Right." The Germanian offered sheepishly before catching a glance sent between the two other men seated beside him, "Hey, lay off!"

"I sometimes wonder if it would be possible to go even a single day without having to be plagued by that boorish bellow of yours."

The three seated men looked up at the gladiator that had come to stand before their table, his frozen crimson gaze locked upon Kuwabara and his face a mask of stone. This newcomer was short, yet not stocky as would be typical for a gladiator. Rather he looked remarkably lean and toned, his skin tanned and his hair a spiky black, though it possessed a bizarre burst of white in the center of its front. His voice was both dry and bored when he spoke, everything about him condescending as he regarded Kuwabara coolly.

"I suppose for that day to come I would need to relieve you of that incessant tongue of yours." He continued to muse, earning both a glare and a snarl from the Germanian.

"Hiei," Kurama spoke in greeting, "Please, take a seat and join us. Have you and Yusuke been properly introduced yet?"

"Hn." Hiei snorted, closing his eyes briefly as an arrogant smirk played upon his lips, "What's a Yusuke?"

"It's a five foot eleven foot that's about to kick your two foot nothing ass." Yusuke answered confidently, resisting the urge to snicker as Hiei opened an eye to cast him a cold glare. Kuwabara managed to stifle his laughter behind a closed fist while Kurama merely continued to smile politely.

"Ah. You're the new one. The deserter." The short gladiator spoke, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at the nails of his left hand as if examining them for a chip, "Kurama, why you choose to keep the company of an ill-trained mut and a cowardly turncoat is beyond me."

"Kurama, they let you keep a dog here?" Kuwabara questioned intently as Yusuke smacked a hand against his forehead in disbelief.

"He's talkin' about you, dumbass." He managed between gritted teeth as the large Germanian loudly strung together several curses. Hiei simply continued to stand there and smirk, the carrot top's anguish obviously causing the midget sadist some kind of sick pleasure.

"Tell me, Hiei, what do you now of this afternoon's trials?" Kurama questioned, having chosen to ignore the continued seething of Kuwabara.

"Nervous, fox?"

"Why, are you?" The red head answered back, causing the shorter man to snort in amusement before uttering a silent snicker.

"We are each to face Toguro in the ring. A brief sparring session, nothing to worry that pretty little head of yours over." Hiei responded, "That is, unless, you should end up finding yourself my designated opponent in the next arena match."

"Naturally. I tremble at the thought." Kurama smiled, earning yet another amused sound from the smaller fighter before Hiei turned and left the group as quickly as he had come.

"I hate that guy!" Kuwabara growled, slamming his fists down upon the table and rattling the dishes that sat upon it. Yusuke looked to Kurama in interest before glancing at Hiei's retreating figure just as it rounded a corner and moved out of sight.

"So who's he?"

"A Spaniard called Hiei." The red head answered casually as he leaned back as far as he could without falling over the edge of his stool, "He is an ex-mercenary and is infamous for his quick temper and skill with a blade."

"And for bein' a royal pain in the ass. He's a dick, Urameshi." Kuwabara grunted as he shook his head, "Plain and simple."

"I knew him back in Greece before the Romans came. I believe that he was captured not far from where I was." Kurama paused for a moment in reflection before shaking his head and looking back to Yusuke, "I will admit that he is certainly rough around the edges, but so long as you do not find yourself standing across from him upon the sands of the coliseum then you have little to worry about from him. No, your major concern should be the man that Hiei spoke before leaving, Toguro."

"And who's Toguro?" Yusuke questioned, looking back and forth between Kuwabara and Kurama, "Another gladiator, right?"

"Yes." Kurama nodded, "The best. He has never lost in an actual arena match, and he has yet to show any form of mercy to his defeated opponents."

"Actual arena match, huh?" Yusuke murmured to himself before looking back to Kurama, "So what's that mean? There's somebody who whooped on him in training?"

"Indeed. Only one man has ever bested Toguro in combat."

"Who?"

"The asshole." Kuwabara mumbled, resting his chin sourly upon his awaiting fist before nodding in the direction that the short gladiator had left in, "Hiei, that sadistic midget."

**A/N**: Shorter than last time, yes, but I had to cut it off here. Next time, we get to see the gladiators in actions. We also see Keiko, Botan, and Koenma again! Thanks for reading!

Til then, REVIEW! YAYAYAYAYA!


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